Saturday, December 1, 2007

The Missing Link: eReaders






An eReader that will seamlessly integrate with students' lifestyles is the missing link in the Education: On Demand model. It needs to be:

  • portable
  • wireless
  • media-rich
  • impact-resistant
  • intuitively accessible
Kids these days seem to always have a cellphone/ mp3 /dvd player/video game console in their hands. Combine all of those things into one handheld device that wirelessly connects classmates, teachers and parents with each other, and simultaneously provides access to educational media on demand, and our education systems will be transformed. At one stroke, the factory model of schooling will become obsolete, and will fade away like the teacher's strap. It will become an embarrassing reminder of primitive man's inhumanity to man.

How so, you ask? Think about it...
  • Education:On Demand means that students will have more options. Students who can get extra help, or review a lesson directly from their handheld can progress at their own rates. They need not be locked into a one-size-fits-all pace of instruction.
  • Education: On Demand means that teachers will be released from some of the drudgery traditionally associated with the profession - scrounging for resources? photocopying? marking? teaching the same lesson over and over? These can be reduced to almost zero with digital systems that automatically track student performance and deliver On Demand access to media-rich, interactive instructional modules.
  • Education:On Demand means that parents will be able to participate as full partners in educational planning and decision-making. Parents may be able to set their own timetables for schooling - ski vacation? no problem - all the lessons are available wirelessly on demand from your child's handheld - all the planning and sequencing has already been done. The extra help is available - so are enrichment activities to challenge the high achievers.
A bit vague? Yes, but we are dealing with possibility. The details will sort themselves out when possibility becomes reality.

Posted by Random Phrump at 3:55 PM

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2 comments:

Steve Dobson said...

Have you seen the new iphone and its competitors? I don't think the device is the missing link here Warren. I suspect it is the software and down-loadables. The world of mobile blogs is blooming. What sort of fruit might that bear for an educator?

cheers,
Steve

December 28, 2007 at 2:04 PM
Random Phrump said...

You are possibly right - one of the currently available handheld devices may emerge as the vehicle for Education: On Demand. It will be the convergence of handheld device, affordable wireless infrastructure, and quality educational content that will create the conditions for change. When today's handheld generation becomes parents, public opinion will surely reach the tipping point of frustration.

Have you been in a public high school classroom lately? You would probably be amazed at how little it has changed in the last 30 or 35 years, compared to how the average business environment has evolved. Kids are still confined to ugly and uncomfortable desks under banks of fluorescent lights, copying down notes from a chalkboard. Well, that's not true in every classroom - in some classrooms, they are copying notes from an overhead or LCD projector.

January 9, 2008 at 7:01 PM

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